The International Space Station lSS faces the risk of being abandoned

For the first time in 18 years, faced with the risk of no astronaut working on the station, after the incident in early October with the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft, causing the flight to bring travelers. The space on the station is canceled. So, what is ISS if there is no one here?

The astronauts are finally about to return to Earth

In November 2000, the spacecraft carrying an American astronaut and two Russian astronauts arrived at the ISS station. Since then, ISS is regarded as the home of astronauts.

Over the years, there have been many astronauts coming and leaving ISS after completing the missions of scientific research and international cooperation. They carry many different nationalities, first Russia and the United States, then Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Canada and other countries. This is where researchers and conduct important tests in a zero gravity environment.

One thing has not changed during the last 18 years, there is always people living on the ISS station. Every time an astronaut returns to Earth, another person is present and continues on the space station. However, at the present time, ISS is facing the risk of being abandoned.

International travelers on the ISS station.

On October 11, Soyuz spacecraft launcher MS-10 carried a group of astronauts including a Russian (Mr. Aleksey Ovchinin) with a leading experimental astronaut from the US Aerospace Agency. (NASA) (Nick Hague), encountered a malfunction right after a few minutes of departure.

When the rocket and spacecraft combination is about to leave the atmosphere, the shuttle's computer system detects an unusual point in the rocket missile division. The ship automatically switches to the cancellation process and opens the self-propelled engine, separated from the rocket.

Both astronauts luckily escaped death after the incident. An investigation into the cause of the incident was quickly carried out. This is the first time after 35 years, the transport spacecraft with Soyuz driver failed in the launch phase.

The officials of the two countries affirmed that all flights to the International Space Station will be postponed until there are clear investigation results. Currently, there are three active astronauts on ISS: Sergey Prokopyev (Russia), Serena Aunon-Chancellor (USA) and Alexander Gerst (Germany).

The aforementioned scientists and astronauts boarded the ISS station in June and plan to return to Earth in December, after the Soyuz vessel expires in space.

As planned, the two astronauts Hague and Ovchinin will be here to continue their work, but the recent incident poses a disturbing question: What if the three astronauts must come about but there are no conclusions yet and no crew on ISS anymore?

Kjell Lindgren, a NASA astronaut who operated on ISS in 2015, said that no one living on an international space station has never happened during the past few years. This is a completely new thing.

Human presence on ISS is necessary

One thing to note is that the International Space Station does not need the presence of a crew to control, but the underground control center can also operate the station for a certain period of time.

In the case of truly necessity, Russia could also bring more cargo ships and more advanced equipment to the ISS, burning propulsion engines to keep it in the right orbit.

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) recently released conclusions about the cause of the incident on October 11. Accordingly, the error comes from the rocket engine and this is completely overcome in the next launch.

Roscosmos has also planned for the crew's next flight, scheduled for December 3, just 10 days before the three astronauts are living on the station back to Earth.

If this launch is successful, the International Space Station will not face an abandoned situation. But before the Russian side completed the investigation, NASA was prepared for the uninhabited ISS.

The US Aeronautics and Aeronautics Agency has made a contingency plan, instructing astronauts to fulfill the mission of returning to Earth but still ensuring that the system on the station works well, performing backup settings . in order Make sure the ground control team operates the station until someone continues to ISS.

But NASA itself did not accurately determine the time the International Space Station could operate without a crew present. Although it is possible to operate the station from Earth, the presence of the crew is irreplaceable.

Astronauts conduct repairs inside and outside the station, conducting regular system inspections. More than anyone else, they understand what is going on around them, especially in emergencies, and astronauts can promptly handle incidents.